Celebrity First-Timer (Summit) Excursion Question

[TOURMAN857]

My wife and I will be on the Summit in September this year to Canada/New England.  Also, first time on Celebrity. We have started to look at shore excursions and find that, specifically for Bar Harbor, there are only 7 excursions listed, and FIVE of them are already sold out!!!  Is that normal for Celebrity? And will more be possibly added closer to the sailing date? Any suggestions on using a site like Viator, or Tours By Locals?  Thank You!!!

[jelayne]

We have used Tours by Locals.  
We we did  a New England/Canada cruise we didn’t do any guided excursions. 
We used the Ports of Call board on CC and Trip Advisor and the Roll Call.  For Bar Harbor we used Oli’s Trolley.  
In Portland we did a 1 hour tour with Portland Fire Engine Co.Tours then had lunch and walked around the town.

[Jim_Iain]

We did b2b's on that cruise last year and yes it is common.    Many of the ports just don't have the infrastructure to commit to many tours.    As Joan said above private tours may be a good option.  

 

In Bar Harbor - Olie's Trolly (book direct) is a great way to see all the sights with more time and less cost than the Celebrity tours.   When I took Celebrity's tour to the top of the Mountain I would say it was the worst tour I have ever taken.  

 

Besides Tours by Locals I've been booking a number of tours via Expedia under the section called attractions.   Most tours are cancelled up until 24 hours before the tour.    While most are small group tours they are much more reasonable than a private tour with Tours by Locals.     I do have to say I love Tours by Locals and also use them often.

[High on the Seas]

A private tour is a good option. Keep in mind however that if you get too far from port or can’t get back to the ship on time they have the right to leave without you and you are responsible for getting to the next port on your own. If you are on a Celebrity excursion they have to wait. I would also see if the shore excursion desk can put you on a waitlist. If there are cancellations you may get on. 

[Islander500]

Also, check the Roll Call section for your cruise.  I’m traveling on the Sept 21 Summit cruise and expect others will post excursions where they need a few more people to sign up to complete the private tour. I often find other than ship tours that way.